Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp11569.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Innovation, Wages, and Polarization in China

Author

Listed:
  • Fleisher, Belton M.

    (Ohio State University)

  • McGuire, William H.

    (University of Washington Tacoma)

  • Su, Yaqin

    (Hunan University)

  • Zhao, Min Qiang

    (Xiamen University)

Abstract
Using data from CHIPS 1995-2013, we find polarization of employment from middle-income Skilled jobs to work in the Unskilled and Self-Employment job categories. This redistribution of employment is consistent with the automation of routine noncognitive tasks in the skilled sector as analyzed in a number of papers on advanced economies and some work on the Chinese economy. While the Unskilled and Self-Employment jobs remain below median income, the redistribution of employment has not been associated with a commensurate polarization of labor income. We find no evidence of polarization of either employment or income at the upper end of the job-skill spectrum.

Suggested Citation

  • Fleisher, Belton M. & McGuire, William H. & Su, Yaqin & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2018. "Innovation, Wages, and Polarization in China," IZA Discussion Papers 11569, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11569
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp11569.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    2. Wang, Chen & Wan, Guanghua, 2015. "Income polarization in China: Trends and changes," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 58-72.
    3. Daron Acemoglu, 2010. "When Does Labor Scarcity Encourage Innovation?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(6), pages 1037-1078.
    4. Cortes, Guido Matias & Jaimovich, Nir & Siu, Henry E., 2017. "Disappearing routine jobs: Who, how, and why?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 69-87.
    5. Acemoglu, Daron & Autor, David, 2011. "Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 12, pages 1043-1171, Elsevier.
    6. Ge, Peng & Sun, Wenkai & Zhao, Zhong, 2021. "Employment structure in China from 1990 to 2015," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 168-190.
    7. Schettino, Francesco & Gabriele, Alberto & Khan, Haider A., 2021. "Polarization and the middle class in China: A non-parametric evaluation using CHNS and CHIP data," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 251-264.
    8. Fleisher, Belton M. & McGuire, William H. & Smith, Adam Nicholas & Zhou, Mi, 2015. "Knowledge capital, innovation, and growth in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 31-42.
    9. Molero-Simarro, Ricardo, 2017. "Inequality in China revisited. The effect of functional distribution of income on urban top incomes, the urban-rural gap and the Gini index, 1978–2015," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 101-117.
    10. Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Chen, 2015. "Income Polarization in the People’s Republic of China: Trends and Changes," ADBI Working Papers 538, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    11. Maloney,William F. & Molina,Carlos A., 2016. "Are automation and trade polarizing developing country labor markets, too ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7922, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Scott Rozelle & Yiran Xia & Dimitris Friesen & Bronson Vanderjack & Nourya Cohen, 2020. "Moving Beyond Lewis: Employment and Wage Trends in China’s High- and Low-Skilled Industries and the Emergence of an Era of Polarization," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 62(4), pages 555-589, December.
    2. Arief A. Yusuf & Reza Anglingkusumo & Andy Sumner & Putri R. Halim & Anggita C.M. Kusuma, 2020. "Routinization And The Changing Task Composition In The Labor Market: Evidence From Indonesia," Working Papers WP/06/2020, Bank Indonesia.
    3. Antonio Martins-Neto & Nanditha Mathew & Pierre Mohnen & Tania Treibich, 2024. "Is There Job Polarization in Developing Economies? A Review and Outlook," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 39(2), pages 259-288.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Belton M. Fleisher & William H. McGuire & Yaqin Su & Min Qiang Zhao, 2024. "Polarization of employment and wages in China," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 49-71, January.
    2. Younjun Kim & Eric Thompson, 2021. "Routine-Biased Technological Change and Declining Employment Rate of Immigrants," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 319-353, June.
    3. Comin, Diego & Mestieri, Martí & Danieli, Ana, 2020. "Income-Driven Labor Market Polarization," CEPR Discussion Papers 14980, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. David Kunst, 2019. "Deskilling among Manufacturing Production Workers," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-050/VI, Tinbergen Institute, revised 30 Dec 2020.
    5. van der Velde, Lucas, 2022. "Phasing out: Routine tasks and retirement," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 784-803.
    6. Leonardo Gasparini & Irene Brambilla & Guillermo Falcone & Carlo Lombardo & Andrés César, 2021. "Routinization and Employment: Evidence for Latin America," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0276, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    7. Antonio Martins-Neto & Nanditha Mathew & Pierre Mohnen & Tania Treibich, 2024. "Is There Job Polarization in Developing Economies? A Review and Outlook," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 39(2), pages 259-288.
    8. Hémous, David & Dechezleprêtre, Antoine & Olsen, Morten & Zanella, carlo, 2019. "Automating Labor: Evidence from Firm-level Patent Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 14249, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 2022. "Fleshing out the olive? Observations on income polarization in China since 1981," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Jaimovich, Nir & Saporta-Eksten, Itay & Siu, Henry & Yedid-Levi, Yaniv, 2021. "The macroeconomics of automation: Data, theory, and policy analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-16.
    11. Fabio Cerina & Alessio Moro & Michelle Rendall, 2021. "The Role Of Gender In Employment Polarization," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1655-1691, November.
    12. David Hémous & Morten Olsen, 2022. "The Rise of the Machines: Automation, Horizontal Innovation, and Income Inequality," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 179-223, January.
    13. Hensvik, Lena & Skans, Oskar Nordström, 2023. "The skill-specific impact of past and projected occupational decline," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    14. Georg Graetz & Guy Michaels, 2018. "Robots at Work," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(5), pages 753-768, December.
    15. Albanesi, Stefania & Dias da Silva, Antonio & Jimeno, Juan Francisco & Lamo, Ana & Wabitsch, Alena, 2023. "New Technologies and Jobs in Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 18220, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Cheng, Cheng & Wang, Xiaobing, 2021. "Transportation cost reducing technological change and wages inequalities," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 600-611.
    17. Maarten Goos & Melanie Arntz & Ulrich Zierahn & Terry Gregory & Stephanie Carretero Gomez & Ignacio Gonzalez Vazquez & Koen Jonkers, 2019. "The Impact of Technological Innovation on the Future of Work," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2019-03, Joint Research Centre.
    18. Reijnders, Laurie S.M. & de Vries, Gaaitzen J., 2018. "Technology, offshoring and the rise of non-routine jobs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 412-432.
    19. vom Lehn, Christian, 2020. "Labor market polarization, the decline of routine work, and technological change: A quantitative analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 62-80.
    20. Noritaka Kudoh & Hiroaki Miyamoto, 2021. "Robots and Unemployment," Working Papers SDES-2021-5, Kochi University of Technology, School of Economics and Management, revised May 2021.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    wage growth; innovation; polarization; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11569. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.